One year, on the first day of kindergarten, the daughter of a co-worker stopped by the office to say hello and show off her school uniform. This little girl is now a freshman in high school. But for the rest of my life, I will never forget the look on this usually gruff guy's face that day, a combination of sadness and pride and complete disbelief.

"Don't blink" is all he said to me.

Even today, I think of those two words and I get a lump in my throat.

The first day of school tends to make parents more sentimental than usual. We struggle to grasp that our children are now old enough for kindergarten, or high school, or college.

As my Aunt Honey used to say, "Where did the time go?"

The other day I found myself lingering a little longer in my daughters' bedroom after they headed off to school. I rearranged stuffed animals. I looked at photos on the wall. The room felt empty, and truthfully, so did I.

There's something about September that makes us melancholy. We tell our kids to be brave as we walk into school, and then we hide our tears behind sunglasses.

People love to tell new parents that kids grow up so fast, to enjoy them because you can't get these years back. I can't tell you how many times strangers shared this unsolicited advice to me in the supermarket. It used to drive me crazy.

The truth is time doesn't go by fast when your baby wakes up at 5 a.m. and the toddler insists on playing "Go Fish" for the 15th time in a row. The days can be tedious. I used to pray that time would go by faster.

But then it hits you one day, and a panic sets in. All these parents were right. It does go by fast, frighteningly so, and you wish it was possible to freeze time for a little bit.

Once children enter school, the days seem to fly by. It's Halloween before you know it, then Christmas, then February vacation. We're always thinking ahead — to the next book report, or basketball game, or birthday party.

My sister just dropped my niece off at college to start her freshman year, and she keeps having flashbacks — to kindergarten, to the first violin concert, to the expression on her face as she tore down the stairs on Christmas morning.

Then she even grew tired of her sappiness.

I can relate. I find I'm rolling my eyes at myself these days. I say I miss the days of the crib, the sippy cups and Elmo. I miss walking around the neighborhood searching for my daughter's imaginary friend Bridget. I miss their little fingers.

But then I remember being on my hands and knees in the dark in middle of the night searching for a pacifier that fell behind the crib for the 10th time. I don't miss that. Well, maybe just a little bit.

Long before I had children of my own, I remember an old editor said something about his kids that stuck with me. While some parents warned about the sleep deprivation, or the terrible twos, or the teenage years, he said he enjoyed every stage. And he said it with such sincerity I knew he was speaking the truth.

It's good advice — to try to enjoy what lies ahead instead of feeling sad about how terribly fast they grow up. I promise I'll start on Monday.

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Staff writer Susan Flynn can be reached at sflynn@salemnews.com or at 978-338-2658.